Gold Page #5

Acosta lets that hang there, like a tease.

WELLS:

Daya Kensana?

ACOSTA:

The word, Daya, actually means

upstream... Kensana means gold.

Wells can’t contain his smile.

WELLS:

Upstream Gold?

ACOSTA:

That’s its name.

WELLS:

You gotta be shittin’ me. If I had

invented it, I wouldn’t have had the

balls to name it that.

ANGLES ON THE JOURNEY

Natives pass in a canoe going the other way; wildlife along

the shore; ANGLES from shore, poo rafts next to clothes

washing next to teeth brushing. Wells staring. A snake drops

and swims through the water. Wells coolly lights a cigarette.

RISE UP TO SEE the freighter canoe tiny with a white wake, the

river golden in color, bisecting an endless green canopy.

Wells POVs. Sun and jet lag. The steady buzz of the prop.

Peering from under his hat, water rolling by. His eyes fight

it, then shut. Then Acosta is shaking him awake. River

narrower and darker under overhanging trees.

23.

EXT. KENSANA RIVER LANDING - DAY

The boatman pulls up at a muddy bank. A faint trail goes up

into jungle. Acosta hops ashore and Wells follows.

ACOSTA:

So, listen... the Dayak are warrior

people. Probably best known for

Ngayau... headhunting.

WELLS:

What the f***?

ACOSTA:

They believe all of a man’s power is

centered in his head. So they take the

head. Doesn’t happen much anymore, but

they’re probably around thinking we’re

traders or someone’s mother-in-law.

Suddenly Wells freezes. There are FACES in the leaves,

watching them. Then Wells realizes Acosta has vanished up a

dense trail. Wells nearly runs after him.

Acosta stands. He has attached a heavy coconut to the end of a

bamboo stick. He tests its weight on the ground. THUMP. Then

sets out again. Thump Thump Thump.

WELLS:

Okay, I’ll bite. What is that?

ACOSTA:

It makes the king cobras and pythons

think an elephant is coming.

Wells watches every footfall.

OMIT:

24.

EXT. JUNGLE STOPPING POINT - DAY

Light filters from high in the canopy. THUMP THUMP THUMP. The

coconut vibrates the earth. Wells follows, drenched in sweat.

WELLS:

Getting a world-class case of crotch

rot back here.

(continues, then)

Jesus... How long..?

He stops.

ACOSTA:

Forty million years. For the geology

to cook. Then we come along and take

it.

WELLS:

I meant -

ACOSTA:

I know what you meant, Wells. But

imagine being asked to give up

something you’ve been hoarding for 40

million years? This jungle will test

you, Wells. Hold you up, weigh you,

and decide your worth within an ounce.

WELLS:

Do you always talk like this? Like a

book on tape.

ACOSTA:

I suppose I do. Do you listen to books

on tape, Wells? Ken Fol-let... Louis

L’Amour... Ed-gar Rice Bur-roughs?

He’s really made a meal of those pulp names.

WELLS:

Where are we going, Acosta?

A no look point back over his shoulder -

ACOSTA:

Up. I want to show you something.

WELLS:

Up? How far up?

24A.

ACOSTA:

Six, seven miles tops. Watch your

step.

Wells looks up. If there’s a way, only Acosta can see it.

25.

EXT. JUNGLE - TOP OF THE RIDGE - AFTERNOON

Acosta emerges from the foliage into a clearing. Wells

struggles up after -

Acosta stands on the edge, staring out like a man who’s come

home. Wells is bent over, sucking air, drowning in sweat...

ACOSTA:

Take a look.

Wells looks out and is instantly spellbound -- it’s JUST LIKE

HIS DREAM. GOLDEN LIGHT sparkles over a pristine valley. The

KENSANA RIVER snaking around, smoke from a small village on

the river far in the distance.

WELLS:

My God, it’s just like my dream.

ACOSTA:

There have been a few folks up here

tapping over the years but they’ve all

focused on the foothills far to the

south, drawn by the basalt overlay.

He points to an area on the opposite side of the valley.

ACOSTA (CONT’D)

What interests me is the other way, on

the east bank, up from the river. That

small depression, like a giant left a

footprint walking away.

Far away we see limestone features we will recognize from the

“Washoe site.” True excitement in Acosta’s voice -

ACOSTA (CONT’D)

Those limestone structures are 300

million years old, the pale color

comes from skeletons of tiny sea

creatures. But the placer gold I’ve

recovered there is much older.

Something happened there, Wells.

Something hot and angry. That’s where

we’ll find the tasty bits.

But Wells is barely listening. He’s transfixed.

WELLS:

My dream... It’s out there...

26.

ACOSTA:

Damn right it is.

Two men together, staring out at their destiny, and WE GO:

EXT. KENSANA VILLAGE - DUSK

A small village on the river. A vendor scoops rice onto flat

leaves, grilling some kind of meat over an open fire. He puts

the two portions up on a flat board.

Wells goes for his wallet. Acosta stops him, producing a small

pouch. He removes a pinch of GOLD DUST, sprinkles it on a

scale on the vendor’s cart.

ACOSTA:

Coin of the realm around here.

(beat)

When you think about it, Gold is

utterly useless. Copper, Iron,

Beryllium, Palladium, Bismuth, these

are metals you can do something with.

But the one that’s good for nothing is

the one that everybody wants. Does

have a quality though. When you hold

it in your hand, it does something to

you.

Weights are adjusted, a little more dust -- no one can take

their eyes off the sparkling gold.

WELLS:

Like get you to spend your whole life

looking for it.

EXT. KENSANA VILLAGE - DUSK

ACOSTA:

...so the lease is currently held by a

Brazilian company.

Acosta sits comfortably, eating. Wells searches his pockets,

finds a couple of mini-bar bottles of scotch, and a packet of

airplane peanuts. Offers one of the bottles to Acosta.

WELLS:

Only chance you got of surviving

what’s in that bowl of microbes.

ACOSTA:

...They’re looking to unload it cheap -

getting buried on some Kazakh venture.

Wells finds some peanuts from the plane. Eats them.

27.

WELLS:

You know, Mikey, I’m starting to love

how you talk. And the first thing I’m

gonna do is move some paper.

ACOSTA:

None of the big guys will touch us.

In Wells we see a touch of the old confidence returning.

WELLS:

You want to raise money from the big

boys, from Harvard endowment or some

pension fund, I am not your guy. But

the little guys, the guys you’ve never

heard of... those are my guys. How

much do we need?

ACOSTA:

Seven, seven-fifty to start.

Ouch... Wells takes a beat to re-focus.

WELLS:

But how much are we gonna need?

ACOSTA:

It’s not just the lease. We must first

procure a permit, which in Indonesia

means lining pockets. There are

capital costs, too. Equipment. You

don’t just do this with a couple

shovels and a pick-axe.

WELLS:

I’ll get the money. Whatever it

takes.

Wells is about to wipe his face with his NAPKIN, but has a

sudden idea. He pulls out a pen and quickly scribbles

something down on it then slides the napkin over to Acosta.

ACOSTA:

What’s this?

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